Method and structure for packing binder rings for binding documents

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a method of packing binder rings for binding documents. In the method, a plurality of binder rings having a predetermined length is held by a fork-shaped jig. Thereafter, the binder rings held by the fork-shaped jig are heat-adhered to a fastening film, and the fork-shaped jig is removed from the binder rings, thus forming a unit packing set. Subsequently, a plurality of unit packing sets is contained in a packing box in such a way as to fold the unit packing sets or stack the unit packing sets on top of one another such that the binder rings overlap with each other, thereby preventing the binder rings from becoming entangled with each other although a user draws the binder rings out of the packing box one by one.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to methods and structures for packing binder rings for binding documents. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of packing binder rings which enables a user to easily draw out each binder ring from a packing box, and prevents the binder rings from being bent or placed into a curved shape when drawing them out piece by piece from the packing box. Thus, the binder ring is retained in its original state so that hook parts of the binder ring can be easily inserted into binding holes of documents without requiring a separate process for aligning the hook parts of the binder ring with the binding holes of the documents. The present invention reduces the time taken to bind the documents, and prevents the binder ring from being discarded because of having been deformed.

2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.

Generally, binder rings for binding documents are conveniently used to bind research papers, databases of enterprises or various kinds of reports. In the bounded state, such a binder ring enables a user to easily turn the pages of documents to read or copy the documents. Furthermore, the pages that are turned over can be uniformly opened by the support of the binder ring. As such, due to several advantages, binder rings which are made of various materials and have various shapes are widely used at present.

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a conventional binder ring for binding documents. As shown in FIG. 1, binding holes 1 a are formed through predetermined portions of documents 1. The binder ring 3 is inserted into the binding holes 1 a of the documents 1.

In detail, the binder ring 3 is manufactured by repeatedly bending a metal wire such that hook parts 3 a are consecutively formed. The hook parts 3 a are inserted into the binding holes 1 a of the documents 1. Thereafter, the hook parts 3 a are rolled using a separate binding apparatus (not shown) such that the binder ring 3 has a cylindrical shape, thus preventing the documents 1 from being undesirably removed from the binder ring 3.

Below, a process of packing binder rings 3 which are used in the above manner will be explained. As stated above, the binder ring 3 is formed in the shape shown in FIG. 1 by repeatedly bending a metal wire having a predetermined thickness using a bending apparatus. Here, the binder ring 3 that is continuously formed by bending the metal wire is wound around a paper tube. The binder ring 3 is stored and transported in the state of being wound around the paper tube. In a secondary process, the binder ring 3 is cut into pieces having a predetermined length corresponding to the size of A3, A4 or A5. Thereafter, an appropriate amount of cut binder rings 3 are contained in a packing box 4. A user purchases the packing box 4 and draws out the binder rings 3 from the packing box 4 piece by piece.

However, in the conventional technique, the binder rings are stacked on top of one another in the packing box in a state in which they irregularly overlap with each other. Thus, when the packing box is transported, the binder rings in the packing box may become entangled with each other, thus inconveniencing the user.

Furthermore, if the binder rings are entangled with each other, when the user draws out one of the binder rings from the packing box, the binder ring may become extended or bent. If the binder ring becomes extended or bent, it becomes difficult to insert the hook parts of the binder ring into the binding holes of the documents.

As such, the deformation of the binder ring causes several problems when binding documents.

In particular, in the case where the amount of documents is small, one side of the documents lifts, or the binder ring is not exactly fastened to the binding apparatus so that the binder ring cannot be correctly pressed (rolled), thus inducing the defective binding or deteriorating the appearance of the bound documents.

Moreover, typically, about fifteen kinds of binder rings are prepared according to size and shape and are selectively used depending on the amount, volume or shape of the documents.

Therefore, because binder rings of various sizes must be contained in one packing box, the space required to contain the binder rings in the packing box is increased. Thus, a packing method which can minimize the volume of binder rings packed in the packing box is required.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of packing binder rings for binding documents which can prevent the binder rings from becoming entangled with each other when transporting the binder rings, thus facilitating use of the binder rings, and which prevents the binder rings from becoming deformed when they are drawn out of the packing box, thus reducing the time taken to bind the documents, and enhancing the quality of the binding.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of packing binder rings for binding documents in which the binder rings are fastened to a fastening film so that the arrangement of the binder rings packed in the packing box can be correctly retained while transporting the packing box. The binder rings are packed in the packing box in such a manner as to overlap adjacent binder rings with each other, thus maximizing the number of binder rings contained in the packing box.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a structure for packing binder rings for binding documents which can easily store various sizes and shapes of binder rings in a packing box despite minimizing the size of the packing box and is configured such that even when binder rings that have been used piece by piece are repacked in the packing box, the binder rings can be stored in the same condition as when they were first packed, thus being convenient.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method of packing binder rings for binding documents, including the steps of: fastening a plurality of binder rings having a predetermined length to a fork-shaped jig; heat-adhering the binder rings held by the fork-shaped jig to a fastening film, and removing the fork-shaped jig from the binder rings, thus forming a unit packing set; and containing a plurality of unit packing sets in a packing box in such a way as to fold the unit packing sets or stack the unit packing sets on top of one another such that the binder rings overlap with each other.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a binder ring packing structure of cutting a binder ring wound around a paper tube into a plurality of binder rings at regular intervals and containing the binder rings in a packing box, wherein the binder rings are held by a fork-shaped jig. A fastening film is heat-adhered to one side of the binder rings such that the binder rings are fastened to the fastening film. The fork-shaped jig is removed from the binder rings, thus forming a unit packing set. A plurality of unit packing sets is contained in the packing box in such a way as to stack the unit packing sets on top of one another such that the binder rings of adjacent unit packing sets overlap with each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional binder ring;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a method of packing binder rings according to a conventional technique;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a unit packing set of binder rings, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the unit packing set of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing several unit packing sets contained in a packing box according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view showing another embodiment of a unit packing set of binder rings according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a bent state of a fastening film of the unit packing set of FIG. 6; and

FIGS. 8 and 9 are sectional views showing other embodiments of a method of packing a plurality of unit packing sets in a packing box according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

First, as stated above, a binder ring 3 is continuously and repeatedly bent in a predetermined shape and is stored or moved after it is wound around a paper tube. Thereafter, the binder ring 3 is cut into pieces of a desired length (corresponding to a size of A3, A4 or A5) such that it can be used to bind documents.

As shown in FIG. 3, binder rings 3 provided by the above-mentioned manufacturing method are arranged in lines. Thereafter, a fork-shaped jig 5 is inserted into first ends of the binder rings 3 such that the state of having arranged in lines is retained.

In detail, when the binder rings 3 are arranged in lines, each binder ring 3 is placed such that an open side 3 b thereof is oriented upwards. Subsequently, insert legs 5 a of the jig 5 are respectively inserted into the binder rings 3. Hereby, the several binder rings 3 are held by the jig 5.

Here, the adjacent insert legs 5 a of the jig 5 have different lengths such that the binder rings 3 are arranged in a manner that hook parts and valley portions of the adjacent binder rings 3 alternate with each other.

That is, the jig 5 is constructed such that the hook parts of each binder ring 3 are inserted into the corresponding valley portions of the neighboring binder rings 3′.

From this state, the fastening film 6 is placed onto the upper portions (open sides) of the binder rings 3. Thereafter, the fastening film 6 is adhered to the binder rings 3 by heat adhesion using a heating plate (not shown). Subsequently, the jig 5 is removed from the binder rings 3, thus forming a unit packing set 10 in which the binder rings 3 are fastened to the fastening film 6.

Here, the reason for the fastening film 6 being placed onto the open sides of the binder rings 3 is that when the fastening film 6 is heat-adhered to fasten the binder rings 3 to the fastening film 6, damage to the surfaces of the binder rings 3 can be minimized, thus preventing products from being deformed or damaged. In addition, in the case where the fastening film 6 is adhered to the open sides of the binder rings 3, the binder rings 3 are prevented from becoming entangled with adjacent binder rings 3 when the binder rings 3 are stacked on top of one another.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the unit packing set 10 is constructed such that the adjacent binder rings 3 are misaligned from each other (such that when the unit packing set 10 is folded, the hook parts of each binder ring 3 are inserted into the valley portions of the corresponding binder rings 3). Because of this construction of the unit packing set 10, a large number of unit packing sets 10 can be contained in the packing box 20.

The heat adhesion between the binder ring 3 and the fastening film 6 is implemented by heating the fastening film 6 at an appropriate temperature such that a resin coating layer applied to the surface of the binder ring 3 is slightly melted and heat-adhered to the fastening film 6. Here, when implementing the heat adhesion, the resin coating layer must be prevented from becoming damaged by high temperature and the metal wire of the binder ring 3 must not be exposed to the outside.

The size of the unit packing set 10, that is, the size of the fastening film 6, can vary depending on the amount of binder rings 3 to be packed or the size of the packing box 20. Approximately, it is preferable that about ten binder rings 3 be heat adhered to a single fastening film 6 to form a unit packing set 10.

Several unit packing sets 10 are formed through the above-mentioned processes and are thereafter contained in the packing box 20 by stacking them on top of one another.

The structure for packing the unit packing sets 10 in the packing box 20 may be formed by the method of FIG. 5 or, alternatively, it may be formed by the method of FIG. 8. In the packing structure of FIG. 5, the unit packing sets 10 are simply stacked on top of one another in the packing box 20 such that the binder rings 3 are oriented in the same direction. In the packing structure of FIG. 8, after each unit packing set 10 is folded along the center thereof such that the binder rings 3 fastened to the fastening film 6 engage with each other, the folded unit packing sets 10 are contained in the packing box. In this case, the amount of binder rings 3 contained in the same packing box can be increased, compared to that of the packing structure of FIG. 5.

Meanwhile, FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of a method of packing binder rings according to the present invention. In this embodiment, unit packing sets 10 are stacked on top of one another such that binder rings 3 of each upper unit packing set 10 overlap binder rings 3′ of the lower neighboring unit packing set 10. In this case, the amount of binder rings 3 contained in the packing box can be maximized in a manner similar to that of FIG. 8.

Hereinafter, the method of packing binder rings for binding documents according to the present invention will be explained in detail according to the steps.

Preparing binder rings.

A paper tube around which a binder ring 3 is continuously wound is set on a cutting machine (not shown). Thereafter, the binder ring 3 is cut into pieces of a desired length (corresponding to the size of A3, A4 or A5), thus forming binder rings to be packed.

Forming a unit packing set.

The binder rings 3 that are cut to desired lengths are fitted over the insert legs 5 a of the fork-shaped jig 5 and thus arranged in lines. Thereafter, the fastening film 6 is disposed on a side of the jig 5 and heat-adhered to the binder rings 3, thus forming a unit packing set 10.

In other words, the corresponding sides of the binder rings 3 are heat-adhered to the surface of the fastening film 6. Thus, even though the jig 5 is removed from the binder rings 3, the arranged state of the binder rings 3 can be retained.

Here, when the fastening film 6 is heat-adhered to the binder rings 3, damage to the binder rings 3 must be minimized. For this, the fastening film 6 is heat-adhered to the open sides 3 b of the binder rings 3, thus minimizing damage to the coating layers of the binder rings 3 because of high heat. In particular, when heat-adhering, the fastening film 6 must be adhered to the binder rings 3 with heat appropriate to separate the binder rings 3 from the fastening film 6 only using small force. Hereby, when the user separates the binder rings from the fastening film 6, the binder rings 3 can be prevented from becoming undesirably curved or bent.

Furthermore, the binder rings 3 are arranged such that the hook parts and the valley portions of each binder ring 3 are misaligned with those of the neighboring binder ring 3′. Then, when stacking the several unit packing sets 10, the binder rings 3 can overlap with each other.

Packing.

After several unit packing sets 10 are formed by repeatedly conducting the step of forming the unit packing set 10, an appropriate number of unit packing sets 10 are contained into the packing box 20, thus completing the packing of the binder rings 3.

In the case where the binder rings are packed in the packing box by the above-mentioned method, the binder rings can be prevented from being entangled with each other although the user draws out the binder rings from the packing box one by one. In addition, a maximum amount of binder rings can be packed in the packing box having a predetermined size, thus reducing logistics costs. Also, because the binder rings are prevented from being bent or folded when drawing them out from the packing box, the user can conveniently use the binder rings to bind documents.

Moreover, typically, the binder rings 3 which are contained in the packing box are used by the piece rather than being used at once. Furthermore, the usage and storage of the binder rings 3 can be repeated. Therefore, the present invention can maintain the binder rings in the same state as the original state even if they are repeatedly used.

As described above, a method and structure for packing binder rings for binding documents according to the present invention has the following effects.

First, the binder rings are prevented from becoming entangled with each other when they are moved. Thus, when the binder rings are drawn out from a packing box, they can be easily separated from each other piece by piece. Furthermore, when each binder ring is drawn out from the packing box, it can be prevented from being deformed, for example, bent or curved.

Second, the size of the packing box can be minimized, thus reducing logistics costs.

Third, when sets of binder rings are contained in the packing box and unit packed therein, they are stacked on top of one another such that binder rings attached to a fastening film of each unit packing set overlap with binder rings of the neighboring unit packing set. Thus, the containing space of the packing box can be efficiently used.

Fourth, the volume of the packing box is minimized. Thus, although binder ring packing boxes have various sizes and shapes, a space for storing the packing boxes is not excessively increased in size.

Fifth, because open sides of the binder rings are heat-adhered to the fastening film, the binder rings are prevented from being entangled with each other.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. 

1. A method of packing binder rings for binding documents, comprising: fastening a plurality of binder rings having a predetermined length to a fork-shaped jig; heat-adhering the binder rings held by the fork-shaped jig to a fastening film, and removing the fork-shaped jig from the binder rings, thus forming a unit packing set; and containing a plurality of unit packing sets in a packing box in such a way as to fold the unit packing sets or stack the unit packing sets on top of one another such that the binder rings overlap with each other.
 2. A binder ring packing structure of cutting a binder ring wound around a paper tube into a plurality of binder rings at regular intervals and containing the binder rings in a packing box, wherein the binder rings are held by a fork-shaped jig; a fastening film is heat-adhered to one side of the binder rings such that the binder rings are fastened to the fastening film; the fork-shaped jig is removed from the binder rings, thus forming a unit packing set; and a plurality of unit packing sets is contained in the packing box in such a way as to stack the unit packing sets on top of one another such that the binder rings of adjacent unit packing sets overlap with each other. 